How To Use TikTok: A Beginner’s Guide

By Amily Smith Last updated Jul 28, 2023

With over 800 million active users, TikTok has become an internet sensation.

This tutorial will walk you through using TikTok and provide a high-level overview of what happens there if you’re new to the app or have children who are constantly using it.

With all the entertaining features offered by the app, TikTok is the top destination for short videos, and it is simple to become addicted. Users can make videos of themselves singing, dancing, acting, and lip-syncing and add a variety of entertaining filters to give them life and color. With its lip-syncing videos, it first appeared as a component of the app Music.ly. With its chat feature and filters, it also has aspects of Snapchat. It’s a social network full of short videos that appear to have appeared out of nowhere to take over the phones of anyone of a certain age and is specifically targeted at teenagers.

| More: Read about how long your TikTok videos should be

Setting up TikTok

The mobile app is TikTok’s most widely used format. Although it doesn’t have all of the same features, you can also use the TikTok website for some things. Because of this, you should install the app after downloading it from the appropriate app store on your phone. You will then be able to begin after creating an account.

Download TikTok from the App Store or the Google Play Store and install it.

Set up your account by following the wizard.

You will then be prompted by TikTok to enter a valid phone number. You are not required to give this information, but you need it to send messages to other users. A good way to protect your account and ensure that you can get your account back is to provide your phone number. Once you’ve created an account, you can start watching and creating videos. Let’s talk about your Profile page first, though.

How to Set Up Your Profile Page

TikTok’s Profile pages are quite simple in nature. Like other social media platforms, you can add a username, profile picture, and short bio. Here are the key highlights of your profile page:

You can access your Profile page by clicking on the Profile icon in the lower right corner.

At the top, you will see your profile picture and your username. Other users can find your profile by searching for the name with the ‘@’ symbol before it.

Under your Profile picture and username you’ll see the number of people you follow, the number of people who follow you, and how many likes your videos (collectively) have.

Now, you’ll see three icons. Tapping on the first icon will reveal all of the videos you’ve posted (as well as those in your drafts). Tapping on the second will show other creators’ videos that you’ve liked, and the last icon will show you any private videos.

Now, you’ll see three icons. Tapping on the first icon will reveal all of the videos you’ve posted (as well as those in your drafts). Tapping on the second will show other creators’ videos that you’ve liked, and the last icon will show you any private videos.

If you need to access TikTok’s Settings tap the three line menu icon in the upper right corner. Here, you can change your privacy settings, and more.

In this menu, you will find several options for customizing your Privacy, Account, and even notifications.

That’s it. You’re in and can now start enjoying the social network.

Using TikTok

The ‘For You’ feed, which displays the most popular videos right now, should be visible after logging in. Choose one to watch, and if you want, give it a like to show your appreciation. A video that you play will loop until you stop it or select another.

Click the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the screen to search if you want to look around. You can conduct a search using hot songs, popular users, trending hashtags, or videos. Choose a video to start it playing.

If you enjoy the video, please tap the heart icon to the right or use the speech bubble to leave a comment. If the user has several videos you enjoy, you can choose to follow them and have them added to your feed by clicking on their name.

TikTok uses your likes and follows to create a profile of the videos you enjoy and find boring, and it adjusts its For You feed in accordance. You will notice the Following tab at the top of the main screen once you have been using TikTok for a while and have liked a few videos. This tab will contain videos created by the creators of the videos you have liked. It’s a quick route to information that you might or might not want to use.

Uploading Your Own Video to TikTok

Media browsing and consumption make up a very small portion of Tik Tok. Its real power is in assisting you in making your own video, doing some simple editing, and uploading it to the website. Of course, it’s not required, but if you don’t participate, you’re losing out.

TikTok was designed for brief videos. TikTok initially allowed creators to upload 15-second videos. You can now upload videos that are anywhere from 15 seconds to 3 minutes long. As you might anticipate, TikTok makes it incredibly simple to produce original content to share on the network. The procedure isn’t all that different from using Snapchat or Instagram.

How to Upload Your Own Video

Here are the basics of adding your own video to TikTok.

Prepare yourself, the setting, the song or sketch and get everything ready beforehand.
Rehearse what you’re going to do until it’s perfect.
Open Tik Tok on your phone and hit the ‘+’ at the bottom of the screen.

Select any audio you want to add by selecting ‘Sounds’ at the top.

Press record when you’re ready.

Press record again to stop if it doesn’t stop automatically.

Add any effects, text or edits to your video in the next screen and select Next when done.

Select any friends you want to tag and select Next.

Select Post when you’re ready to publish.

How to Create a Duet on TikTok

Even if you and your friend are in different places, you can still perform a duet on TikTok. Only publicly available videos that are 15 seconds or less in length can use Duet.

Open a video from your friend and select the Share icon.

Then tap the Duet icon.

How to Create a Stitch Video

Due to the fact that you can interact with another person’s content in a Stitch video, it is comparable to a Duet. However, you’re adding to their content rather than responding to it. Although stitches can be used for many different purposes, in essence what you’re doing is showing your viewers a brief excerpt of the content that the original creator originally created before adding your own content to the end of it.

By tapping the Share icon and choosing Stitch as an alternative, repeat the previous steps. After that, upload it as follows:

Use the slider at the bottom to select how much of the original video you want to use. Then, click Next in the upper right corner.

Choose the length of you video then hold the record button to record your content.

When you’re finished recording, tap on the red checkmark in the lower right corner.

Review your video and add any finishing touches. Then, tap Next.

Now you’re on the Posting page. Make any necessary selections and click Post.

If you don’t see the option to Stitch someone’s video, it’s either because they have the feature turned off or they have a private profile.

Save a Draft

You can save a video on TikTok as a draft and post it later. How to do it:

Tap the Create Video icon.

When you finish recording your video, tap Next.

Tap Drafts.

When making a video for TikTok, it’s important to keep in mind that less time is spent on the things you can see than on the things you can’t. The key is to prepare and practice. Your 15-second performance might require several takes and an hour to perfect before you’re satisfied. On TikTok, most users consider that to be normal, and it’s okay.

Frequently Asked Questions

Despite being a fairly straightforward platform, there is a lot to learn about TikTok. This section now contains more details.

Can I make money on TikTok?

Yes! But some effort will be required. Fortunately, TikTok has a solid history of backing unknown creators (as opposed to Instagram, where celebrities reign). You can actually learn how to increase your TikTok following and earn money in this article.

Is TikTok safe?

Only the user can determine how secure TikTok is. This implies that you are your only source of defense. Although the platform has rules and security measures, it’s important to realize that the information you post online and give out could be used for even more sinister purposes.

TikTok has stringent rules for children (no account owners under the age of 13, and minors cannot send gifts to creators, etc.). It also has excellent blocking and reporting features. Spammers and miscreants still find a way to get around these controls, though.

To protect yourself and your identity while using TikTok, it’s crucial to have a strong password, be cautious of any external links, and make use of the app’s built-in security features. Remember once more that anything you post online will essentially remain there forever.

Do I have to create a TikTok account to use the platform?

No. You can watch public videos on TikTok without creating an account. Despite the fact that this makes it more difficult for you to interact with others, you can still watch videos anonymously.

What is the ‘Culture’ of TikTok?

We refer to the platform’s unspoken guidelines as “culture.” What behavior is socially acceptable for more frequent users, and what is not?

To begin with, TikTok, like any other social media platform, has the potential to be a fun space where users can discover amusing, fascinating content. However, there are drawbacks as well. Remember that if you post a video, there will probably be some unfavorable remarks. The best course of action is to ignore these remarks, but if the user becomes too volatile, you can report or block them.

Then, if you discover a creator whose work you really like, click the Follow button to show your support and to watch their videos. Additionally, you can watch their Live videos to send them gifts that they can later exchange for cash. Just be aware that TikTok has a very odd spamming algorithm that could harm their account. Therefore, refrain from abusing the like button and watch videos through to the end. Their account may suffer if you browse through their profile and like each video.

Conclusion

TikTok will display additional content that is similar to what you liked, commented on, or followed. Eventually, you might realize that the content you can view on your For You page is the only thing there is. Due to the repetition of the same content on your For You page, this can become quite monotonous. Use the Discover button to find other types of videos and engage with them to avoid this.

The Community Guidelines on TikTok are also very strict. Before interacting, read through these; otherwise, your account might be banned.